Culminate

 WORD OF THE DAY

culminate / verb / KUL-muh-nayt

Definition
1a (of a celestial body): to reach its highest altitude
1b: to be directly overhead
2a: to rise to or form a summit
2b: to reach the highest or a climactic or decisive point
3: to bring to a head or to the highest point

Examples
“The trail culminates at a mountaintop summit with handcrafted log benches as well as views of Lake Tahoe in one direction, Granite Chief Wilderness in the other.”
– The Mountain Democrat (Placerville, California), 28 July 2021

March Madness is coming to an end, and the tournaments will culminate with the women’s and men’s national championship games on April 3 and April 4, respectively.
— New York Times, 3 Apr. 2022

Did You Know?
When a star or other heavenly body culminates, it reaches its highest point above the horizon from the vantage point of an observer on the ground.
Culminate was drawn from Medieval Latin culminare, meaning "to crown," specifically for this astronomical application.
Its ultimate root is Latin culmen, meaning "top."
Today, the word’s typical context is less lofty: it can mean “to reach a climactic point,” as in “a long career culminating in a prestigious award,” but it can also simply mean "to reach the end of something,” as in “a sentence culminating in a period.”